News

Our Plants - Our Future - CANCELLED

Supported by DEFRA and attended by the Chief Scientific Advisor Professor Gideon Henderson, Our Plants Our Future will be opened by Lord Gardiner of Kimble, Defra Minister for biosecurity. Speakers include: Sarah Gurr from the University of Exeter, Nick Talbot and Jonathan Jones from the Sainsbury Laboratory, Trevor Nicholls and Dick Shaw from CABI, Baldiserra Giovanni from EPPO and Saskia Hogenhout and Alessandra de Souza representing the BRIGIT project.

Summary of Scotland's Plant Health Conference 2020

Another successful year for Scotland's Plant Health Conference, which took place just before the COVID-19 lockdown took place. We are very pleased that so many delegates attended in increasingly difficult circumstances. One of our attendees, Chris Delf - CHAP (Crop Health and Protection) Business Development Manager, wrote a summary of the event.....

Potatoes in Practice -CANCELLED

CANCELLED for 2020 due to COVID-19

13 Aug 2020 9am - 13 Aug 2020 5pm
Potatoes in Practice is the largest field-based potato event in the UK. The event brings together variety demonstrations, research and trade exhibits in one place making it an essential date in the potato industry calendar.

Visit our updated Knowledge Bank

Last year, due to feedback from stakeholders, Katy Haydon and Joanna Taylor from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, with advice from stakeholders and Scottish Government, produced a Knowledge Bank for plant diseases in the natural environment. The Knowledge Bank is a web portal for relevant plant health information and, due to its success it has now been extended to the Forestry, Horticulture and Agriculture sectors. For more information click the Resources tab on the web site or visit:
www.planthealthcentre.scot/knowledge-bank

Plant health coverage at Crop Production in Northern Britain

It was great to see such wide coverage of plant health at the Crop Production in Northern Britain (CPNB) conference at the Apex Hotel in Dundee. Nicola Spence (Chief Plant Health Officer for Defra) opened the first day with a joint talk between Gerry Saddler (Scotland's Chief Plant Health Officer) and Ian Toth (the Centre's Director), followed by lots of talks over the next 2 days about PHC-funded projects and related topics.

Launch of The Amenity Standard

The Amenity Standard was officially launched at "Amenity Management in Scotland: Setting the Standard".

UK Plant Health Conference

Defra hosted a UK Plant Health Conference in York attended by a wide range of plant health experts and included lots of plant health inspectors. A really interesting conference with lots of good networking.

Launch of the International Year of Plant Health

This is the start of the International Year of Plant Health and the Plant Health Centre working with Scottish government have lots of events planned for this year.

Emerald Ash Borer found in Ukraine

In October 2019, the presence of Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus planipennis) was identified on Ukraine territory. During the survey, 50 ash trees were found to be infested. On 2019-09-16, phytosanitary measures were implemented and all ash trees were destroyed within a radius of 100 m around each infested tree. On 2019-10-11, all infested and surrounding ash trees were felled. The pest has not been detected in any other parts of Ukraine. 

The pest status of Agrilus planipennis in Ukraine is officially declared as: Transient, actionable, under eradication.

Plant Health Centre PCN project at the RISS PCN stakeholder event

Kim Davey and Jon Pickup present an update of their work from the Centre's PCN project (see under projects) at the stakeholder PCN meeting in Angus on 6th November 2019.